


Over and Over, Again and Again

by bugarungus



Category: Monsta X (Band)
Genre: Blood and Injury, Curses, M/M, Major Character Injury, Supernatural Elements, Temporary Character Death, Time Loop, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-30
Updated: 2018-10-30
Packaged: 2019-07-12 14:38:26
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 17,742
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15997289
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bugarungus/pseuds/bugarungus
Summary: Kihyun keeps reliving the same day, only every time he relives it, his husband dies in a new horrible way.





	Over and Over, Again and Again

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Krimmro](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Krimmro/gifts).



> Warnings for those who need them:  
> There is a lot of death, but it's not permanent. There's also some violence, blood, and graphic descriptions of injuries. Please read with caution.
> 
> To my recipient:  
> Thank you for the amazing prompt. I knew the moment I got my assignment that I would write this one, and I tried to create something super special for such an awesome prompt. I really hope you like this.

“Oh, Kihyun, I almost forgot.”

Kihyun had been about to head to the kitchen to wash the dinner dishes before bedtime, but at the sound of Hyungwon's voice, Kihyun stops in his tracks and turns back to face him. They've known each other for over a decade, and to this day Kihyun still doesn't know how to fight the gravitational pull of Hyungwon. It's like whenever Hyungwon is nearby, Kihyun gets dragged into his orbit. He learned long ago that it's better not to fight it.

“Yes, love?”

“I got you something.” Kihyun's interest is piqued. He loves gifts, and Hyungwon always knows just what to get him. “I was at Lee's Antiques today, trying to find a thimble for Mother, you know how she collects old thimbles.” Kihyun nods, wondering when Hyungwon will get to the point. “Anyway, I saw this in the display and thought of you.”

Hyungwon holds out a blue velvet jewelry box, and Kihyun is instantly eager to see what's inside. The hinge creaks a bit as he opens the box to reveal an earring, a small diamond stud with several delicate silver chains attached, each with a blue sapphire dangling from the end.

“Hyungwon,” Kihyun says, his voice full of awe at the beautiful gift. “This… it's-”

“I don't care if you think it's too much, Kihyun. I'm not taking it back. If you don't wear it my money will have gone to waste.”

“Our money,” Kihyun laughs, “and I was going to say, it's stunning. Thank you.”

He stands there staring at the earring for what must be a long few moments because Hyungwon finally coughs and asks, “Well, aren't you going to wear it?” Giggling, Kihyun removes the silver hoop he’d been wearing and replaces it with the new one. The mechanics of it are strange. Instead of pushing the post through the back, the back is screwed onto it, like the ball bearing on the barbell Hyungwon used to wear in his eyebrow when he didn't have a steady, nine to five job. It takes Kihyun a second to figure it out, but he guesses it's just because it's an old piece of jewelry, made in a different time when it was common for earrings to work this way.

The chains swing gently when he turns his head to show Hyungwon, and the sapphires clink together quietly.

“Wow,” Hyungwon whispers. “It's even more beautiful on you than it looked in the display case.”

Kihyun blushes and twists his fingers into the front of Hyungwon's shirt to pull him down for a kiss. Hyungwon spoils him, and Kihyun loves it. He can't imagine what his life would be like without Hyungwon in it.

 

“Hyungwon, you have five minutes to get your ass out of bed and in the shower before you'll officially be late.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Hyungwon grumbles, rubbing his eyes and yawning as he sits up in bed. His eyes and lips are puffy from sleep, and his hair is an absolute bird's nest atop his head, but Kihyun can't help smiling at the sight. He loves how soft Hyungwon looks when he's just waking up, all the chiseled lines of his face slightly rounded out and eyes still unfocused.

Hyungwon squints at Kihyun brushing his teeth in the doorway of their bathroom. Kihyun knows he can't see anything without his contacts, but it's cute how he tries.

“Three minutes, love,” he reminds Hyungwon through a mouthful of toothpaste foam before returning to the bathroom to rinse.

Like most mornings, they crowd into the tiny shower stall to cut time by washing each other. On weekends, washing sometimes turns into touching, Kihyun's hands roaming over the hard planes of muscle on Hyungwon's back and chest and abdomen… further down, until Hyungwon grabs Kihyun to pin him against the tile or hoists him up and encourages him to wrap his legs around Hyungwon's waist, but today is Friday. They both have to work, and thus the wandering of hands is kept to a minimum.

When they're both clean and dry, Kihyun helps Hyungwon with his tie and combs the knots out of his honey-blond curls with small fingers. Kihyun still has time for breakfast before he has to leave, but Hyungwon takes his coffee in a travel mug and kisses Kihyun at the door before heading out. Watching from the window of their third floor apartment, Kihyun sees Hyungwon exit the building and look up to wave. He steps off the sidewalk and into the street without checking for traffic, and Kihyun is still watching when an enormous truck comes barrelling down the road.

He doesn’t even have time to scream, to call out, to yell for Hyungwon to get out of the way. He gasps, and the truck slams into Hyungwon without braking, passing right on by as though he hasn't just driven over an entire human being.

Even through the closed window, Kihyun can hear the impact, can feel the crunch of bones like they're his own. He bolts out the door and down the stairs, reaching Hyungwon's lifeless body just in time to stop another vehicle from further mangling his husband.

Hyungwon isn't breathing. How could he be? His chest is completely caved in, his ribs smashed. Deep, gut wrenching sobs tear their way out of Kihyun's lungs as he kneels in the puddle of blood splattered around Hyungwon. Kihyun wants to touch him, wants to hold Hyungwon in his arms and cry until someone rips them apart, but he doesn’t know where to put his hands. Everything is covered in blood, every part of Hyungwon broken or crushed except... except his face, his beautiful face is…

Hyungwon’s lip is busted, his hair a mess, but otherwise he looks intact, relaxed, like he could be sleeping and not- not…

Kihyun cradles Hyungwon’s head in his hands, as gently as he’d hold a newborn baby. He cries and cries, tears rolling down his face and dripping onto Hyungwon as he traces his thumbs along the ridge of Hyungwon’s cheekbones and kisses his forehead.

The paramedics have no trouble pulling Kihyun away when they arrive. He feels as lifeless as Hyungwon, empty but in so much pain. It’s not surprising given that half of his soul is now missing, carried away into the afterlife the moment Hyungwon had taken his last breath. The last thing he remembers is being wrapped in a scratchy, grey blanket and helped into the back of an ambulance. The paramedics question him, but Kihyun doesn’t answer. He sits there in the midst of the commotion, completely still and silent, listening to the high pitched ringing in his ears as it gets louder and louder, drowning out everything else in the world.

 

As cliche as it sounds, Kihyun wakes with a gasp, trembling and drenched in sweat, with tears staining his cheeks. His first thought is to check Hyungwon for injuries though he already knows from the soft snores filling the room that Hyungwon is alive. Still, just to be sure, he runs his hands over Hyungwon's body, making sure skin and bones are intact, until Hyungwon grumbles at him that it's too early and he's not in the mood. Kihyun almost laughs.

Checking the time on his phone, he realises it's almost morning anyway. He has to work today, and so does Hyungwon. Choosing to put off showering until Hyungwon wakes up, he goes about picking out his clothes and packing them each a lunch since he's still a bit early. He's just squeezed the toothpaste onto his toothbrush when the alarm finally rings.

“Wake up, sleepyhead,” he calls to Hyungwon from the bathroom. “Time to shower.”

When Kihyun kisses Hyungwon goodbye at the door that morning, he reminds his husband to be careful. He doesn’t share his dream just yet, not wanting Hyungwon to worry, but he can’t help worrying himself. The dream was so vivid and real that Kihyun is still rattled by it. He almost doesn’t go to the window to watch Hyungwon leave, too scared of what he might witness, but again, he doesn’t want to worry Hyungwon by breaking their routine.

Hyungwon turns to wave, and before he steps out onto the street, he looks both ways. There’s no traffic either direction. Hyungwon makes it safely across the street, but Kihyun watches him descend into the subway station, just to be sure.

 

Big plans for a Friday night include early dinner reservations and opening night of Hyungwon's friend's musical. Hyungwon claims he wants to support his friend, but Kihyun knows the truth. While Hyunwoo does enjoy the support, the real reason they're going is because Kihyun loves musicals and they get complimentary tickets for being best friends with one of the leads.

Dinner is nice, relaxing. Kihyun has spent most of the day trying to shake off the memory of his nightmare, but sitting across from Hyungwon, candlelight casting flickering shadows over his face, Kihyun can't even remember what was so upsetting to begin with. He feels the tension in his chest uncoil, allowing him room to breathe.

They finish their meal with plenty of time before the show starts, and the evening is pretty, warm with a light breeze, so they decide to walk to the theater instead of taking a cab. They hold hands as Hyungwon leads Kihyun through the crowded streets, looking down at him often, a gentle smile curving his lips and eyes.

They have to take a small, deserted side street to get to their destination. Though the sun hasn't set just yet, the buildings on either side of the street block out the pinkish-orange light of dusk. It's darker and cooler, the breeze turning a bit chilly. Kihyun shivers and huddles closer to Hyungwon.

The shadows before them shift, and a man emerges from a stairwell. He turns to walk toward them, keeping a casual pace that doesn't seem to be any cause for concern. Kihyun almost wouldn't notice anything strange at all if it weren't for the car that passes on the main road. Bright headlights briefly illuminate the side street and glint off of something in the man's hand, something shiny, metallic. Kihyun has time to gasp, and then the man reaches them, his right hand raised and holding a small butterfly knife. He presses it to Kihyun's throat, pushing him roughly against the brick exterior of the nearest building, and Kihyun's hand is ripped from Hyungwon's.

Pulse pounding in his ears, Kihyun can’t hear or comprehend the man's words, only his demanding tone as he growls some kind of order in Kihyun's face. The man's breath smells rancid, his eyes are wild and dangerous looking, and Kihyun is scared. He trembles and cries in fear, babbling for the man to just take what he wants and leave them alone, but Hyungwon is brave. He steps forward, grabs the man by his shoulders to pull him away from Kihyun, and attempts to disarm him.

Kihyun slumps against the wall and watches the struggle, still too terrified to move. He sees the flash of the knife as the man swings blindly and catches the side of Hyungwon's neck. Hyungwon's white shirt begins to turn red as blood pours from the gash in his throat.

“Nooooo!” Kihyun screams in horror, watching Hyungwon crumple to the ground, actually witnessing the life draining out of his husband. He makes a clumsy attempt to crawl to Hyungwon, completely ignoring the dirty sidewalk and the stranger still standing over him, knife in hand.

It doesn't hurt as much as he would have thought, being stabbed. There's a sharp pain in his back, between two of his ribs, but it's small compared to the way his heart clenches in his chest.

“Get… away,” Hyungwon’s lips form the words, but no sound comes out. More blood trickles from his mouth. Kihyun doesn't obey. He feels the knife pierce his side again, but he doesn't try to run away. If anything, he moves closer, still struggling to get to Hyungwon, to be with him in what Kihyun realises are most likely the last moments of their lives.

The man rifles through Kihyun's pockets as Kihyun slowly inches toward Hyungwon, arm reaching as far as he can stretch until his fingers close around Hyungwon's hand. Kihyun holds it like a lifeline, hoping as he bleeds out in the street that someone has witnessed the whole thing and called the police in time to save them both.

 

_ Another dream, _ Kihyun thinks as he wakes with his face buried between Hyungwon's shoulder blades. Their fingers are woven together against Hyungwon's stomach, and Kihyun squeezes just a bit to make sure everything is really real.  _ It was just a dream, and it's over now. _

Kihyun doesn't have nightmares often, but it does happen on occasion. Usually he has to get out of bed and move around for awhile to avoid falling right back into the dream. He assumes that's what's going on, that he probably didn't actually wake up last time, or at least not enough to dispel the remnants of the first dream.

Wiping the tears from his cheeks, Kihyun rolls out of bed and makes his way to the kitchen for a glass of water. The tile floor feels like a frozen tundra against his bare feet. He immediately wishes he'd stolen Hyungwon's giant, fuzzy slippers before leaving the bedroom, but it's too late now. He doesn't want to disturb Hyungwon's sleep by stumbling around the room in the dark.

He settles on the couch, tucking his feet beneath himself to warm his toes, and he tries to calm his still racing heart. Nightmares always leave Kihyun feeling jittery, hyped up on unnecessary adrenaline. Pretty soon he'll crash from the high and fall back asleep, and by morning, hopefully, everything will be back to normal.

Kihyun watches the sky slowly begin to fade from black to the hazy purple of predawn. He pulls the throw blanket off the back of the couch and wraps it around his shoulders, and when he wakes, the sun is shining into the room and Hyungwon is standing over him, hand outstretched to help him up.

“What were you doing out there, huh?” Hyungwon asks as he swipes a soapy washcloth across Kihyun's chest. “What time did you move to the couch?”

“I don't know,” Kihyun sighs. “It was early… late? I don't remember.”

“Oh.” Even with his eyes closed, Kihyun can hear the frown in Hyungwon's voice in just the single word. He allows Hyungwon to turn him around so his back can be washed, waiting for Hyungwon to voice his concerns. “Did I… Was I snoring too loud or something?”

“No, love. You didn't run me off. I had a bad dream and needed to get away from it, but I must've been too tired to come back to bed once my head was clear.”

“Oh, what was it about?”

Kihyun hesitates, tries to play it off like the few extra seconds between question and answer don't mean anything. “I don't remember.”

Hyungwon hums. He guides Kihyun under the water to rinse and kisses his forehead when all the bubbles have gathered at their feet, swirling around the drain. Kihyun imagines his dreams slipping into the pipes along with the suds.

“Hey, tell me next time, okay? Wake me up and tell me about your dreams. Don't run away.”

Kihyun thinks Hyungwon underestimates how unpleasant he can be when woken in the middle of the night, but what he says is, “Yeah, okay.”

When they're dry and mostly dressed, ready for another boring day at the office, Kihyun helps Hyungwon with his tie. Hyungwon reaches up and tugs on Kihyun's earring. “This looks so good on you,” he says. “It sparkles like your eyes.” The words bring a slight pink tint to Kihyun's cheeks. He hugs Hyungwon probably a little tighter than necessary, pressing his face into Hyungwon's chest, nuzzling until his ear is pushed up against Hyungwon's ribs where Kihyun can hear his heartbeat, strong and steady, alive. Thankfully, Hyungwon doesn't seem to think anything is off about the hug. If anything, Hyungwon seems to sense that Kihyun needs this, for whatever reason, and he holds on a little longer than he normally would.

Kihyun kisses Hyungwon goodbye at the door, waves to him from the window, watches him walk to the subway; nothing bad happens. Kihyun calls Hyunwoo and switches their tickets to the Saturday matinee, just in case, and he goes to work like it's a normal day, because it is. It's just a normal day, and the nightmares don't mean a thing.

 

It happens in the middle of the day. Just as Kihyun is filing the last of the invoices before his lunch break, the phone on his desk rings. Nothing is unusual about the office phone ringing. The damn thing rings all the time, but usually when Kihyun answers, it's not an emergency call from Hyungwon's boss.

“Kihyun? Is this Yoo Kihyun, Hyungwon's husband?”

“Y-yeah,” Kihyun stutters, panic already constricting his chest tight enough to hinder his breathing. “This is he.”

“I- there's- it's… You need to come here. Now. To Hyungwon's office. There's a situation, and I'm sure it'll be handled, but you need to come.”

“I… yeah, of course. Sir, what's going on?” Kihyun asks, praying that it's not as serious as it sounds, that the _ situation _ isn't something that has already happened but something that can be stopped before it happens.

“Jaesun, he shares Hyungwon's cubicle… shared. He was let go today, caught… well that doesn't matter. We fired him, and he, well, he didn't take it well. He's up on the roof, and Hyungwon is there with him. He- they're right on the edge and I don't know what's going on up there, but Hyungwon-”

“Yeah,” Kihyun cuts him off. “Yeah, I get it. I'll… I'm on my way now.”

Kihyun doesn't bother to let his boss know he's leaving. He doesn't even take anything with him except his phone. He races down the stairs and steals a cab from some guy at the curb, frantically explaining that it's an emergency and yelling apologies out the window as the car pulls away. The drive only takes about ten minutes, but the cab has to stop and let him out two streets away because of a police block, police who are responding to the situation at Hyungwon's office.

There's a cop standing at the corner of the street. He stops Kihyun, telling him he can't come this way, that he'll have to go around the next street over, but Hyungwon's boss is there. He motions for the officer to let Kihyun through.

Kihyun can see Hyungwon on top of the building, twenty stories up, as he follows Hyungwon's boss down the sidewalk. Hyungwon looks unusually small. He's sitting on the ledge of the roof with his back to the street, his hands moving as he speaks to the other man, Jaesun, who is standing on the ledge, obviously threatening to jump.

As frightening as the whole thing is, Kihyun is comforted by the fact that Hyungwon doesn't look in danger of falling. He's a safe distance from the edge, and it looks as though he's trying to talk Jaesun out of jumping.

Kihyun wants to help. He asks the officer in charge of there's anything he can do, but he's told that all they can do is watch and wait. Apparently there's already an officer on the roof, someone trained specifically for situations like this, and if Kihyun stands close enough to anyone with a radio, he can hear the conversation taking place on the roof.

“Jaesun, I know things are bad right now,” Hyungwon is saying, his voice calm and soothing. “You made a mistake, a mistake that you have to pay for, but remember the reason you made the mistake in the first place. I know you did it for your family, right? Your wife and your little girls?”

“They're better off without me,” Jaesun mumbles. “I just f-fuck everything up.”

“I don't think they'll see it that way. I bet your wife is down there right now, praying that you walk back down those stairs. I'm sure she doesn't want to be left to raise those beautiful little angels by herself.”

“We're broke,” Jaesun sobs. “We'll lose our house. We'll lose everything, and it's my fault. The best way to provide for them is to die. At least the insurance will cover the mortgage for awhile.”

“You might think it's the best way, but I know you don't think it's the only way. If you did, you would have jumped already.”

Kihyun wonders just what Hyungwon thinks he’s doing. He’s not a psychologist. He didn't even pass his basic psychology course in college. He'd had to take ethics instead to get the required credit.

It doesn't sound like he's any closer to talking Jaesun off that roof, but he’s trying. He clearly cares and wants to help.

“I haven't jumped because I'm weak!” Jaesun's voice cracks, and Kihyun can hear him crying. “I'm weak and I'm afraid. I can't even get  _ this _ right. I fail at everything, even killing myself.”

“You're afraid because you don't really want to die. You forged those documents because you thought _ that _ was the only way to keep your house, to protect your family, and now you're up here trying to do the same thing, protect them. But Jaesun, it's not the only way. It's not, and I can help you. I  _ want _ to help you. All you have to do is take my hand and step down here. Come on, just take my hand, Jaesun. Please.”

Over the radio, Kihyun hears crackling static and sniffles. Twenty stories up, Hyungwon is holding out his hand, offering to save Jaesun while Jaesun teeters on the edge, his hands covering his face. Jaesun moves to turn. His upper body twists, and his feet tangle together. His balance wavers. He starts to fall.

Kihyun sees Hyungwon stand and lunge forward to grab at whatever he can reach. His fingers clutch at the back of Jaesun’s shirt, trying to pull him back, but it's too late. Jaesun is big, tall and muscular, much heavier than Hyungwon. Gravity pulls Jaesun over the edge, and Hyungwon is dragged with him.

From twenty stories down, Kihyun watches Hyungwon plummet toward the pavement, unable to close his eyes or look away. Someone behind him screams, loud and shrill. Kihyun feels disconnected from the scene. He thinks that it’s probably Jaesun’s wife who’s screaming. She’s seeing the same thing Kihyun is, her husband falling to his death, but instead of the horror she’s experiencing, all Kihyun feels is confusion. Even as he hears the two bodies hit the ground, he wonders,  _ is this another dream? Am I going to wake up now? It has to be a dream, right? _

The sidewalk erupts into commotion, police officers and paramedics rushing to Jaesun and Hyungwon to see if it’s possible to save them, as if it could be possible. Kihyun knows it’s not. From that height, they’re probably both completely shattered, pulverised.

Kihyun feels faint. He doesn’t scream or cry, just carefully sits in the middle of the sidewalk, curling up and tucking his knees into his chest.

With all the death and violence he’s experienced lately, Kihyun doesn’t feel the same pain anymore. It isn’t like his heart is being ripped out of his chest. Instead, it’s more like a dull ache behind his ribs that radiates out to the rest of his body.

A hand touches Kihyun's shoulder, his forehead, his wrist. More hands slide under his arms to lift him. He hears broken pieces of a conversation, the word _ shock, _ and someone suggesting he be taken to the hospital.

“No,” he objects. “No hospital. Home. Take me home.” Thankfully, they listen to him. They take him home, deposit him on the couch and wrap him in the blanket he'd left bunched up on the cushions that morning.

They ask him questions. “Do you need anything? Is there anything we can do for you? Anyone we can call?”

Kihyun doesn't answer. He stares blankly at the grey carpet until they leave, until he hears the door click shut behind them, and then he cries.

“Wake up,” he tells himself as tears spill down his cheeks. “Wake up, wake up, wake up.”

The whole apartment is dark, illuminated only by the city lights shining through the windows. Long shadows fall across the carpet in the living room, shapes that seem to move. The dark outline of the entertainment center is fuzzy, the edges rippling softly, undulating.

When Kihyun was a child, his greatest fear had been darkness. It's ambiguous, and evil things lurk behind it. He remembers telling his mother that a monster with claws peeked around from behind the door whenever she turned off his light. He had believed it, too, wholeheartedly. 

But as Kihyun had grown older, he'd seen the shadows for what they were instead of what they could be if he let his imagination get the better of him. He doesn't believe in monsters anymore.

The clock on the wall, the one Hyungwon got at Lee's Antiques as a gift for Kihyun on their third anniversary, tick-tick-ticks. A single ding indicates the half hour. Kihyun has no idea how many times it's chimed, how many hours have passed, but it's definitely late by now, probably the middle of the night.

There's noise in the apartment, in their bedroom, movement and snuffling. It sounds as if someone is rolling over in their bed, and Kihyun thinks he must be imagining it, wishful thinking. There's no one else here, but then he hears a voice, deep and sleepy.

“Ki… baby? Where are you?”

It can't be. It's absolutely impossible, but as Kihyun creeps down the hallway he sees a shadowy figure sitting on Hyungwon's side of the bed. Tall and thin with his hair sticking out in every possible direction, it's unmistakably Hyungwon.

“Love?” Kihyun asks, and when Hyungwon nods, he runs to the bed and leaps at Hyungwon. “But you were dead,” he cries. “You were dead and I was all alone again.”

“What are you talking about, huh?” Hyungwon's voice is still scratchy from sleep, but it's so calm and lovely. Kihyun was so sure he'd never hear it again that he breaks down sobbing in Hyungwon's arms.

It takes a long time for Kihyun to settle enough to speak without hiccuping, but Hyungwon is patient. He listens to the whole explanation, all the dreams and what Kihyun thought had happened at his office the day before. By the time Kihyun is finished, sunlight fills the room and the alarm is ringing and Kihyun wonders why they would have set an alarm for a Saturday when they had no place to be all morning.

“But Ki, today is Friday.”

“No. No, that's not possible. Yesterday was Friday. You were hit by a truck on Friday and we were stabbed on Friday and you fell off the roof on  _ Friday. _ It can't be Friday again. I didn't fall asleep.”

“You must have,” Hyungwon insists. “That must've been a dream, too. That's the only explanation, baby.”

“But…” Kihyun shakes his head, trying to remember if he ever dozed off on the couch. He’s sure he didn't, but that would mean they're… What? Stuck in a time loop of some sort? A horrible time loop where Hyungwon keeps dying and dying until Kihyun's heart is ripped to shreds? “I guess it was a dream,” he agrees because the alternative is the real nightmare.

It doesn't take much to convince Hyungwon to call in sick to work. They've both been up at least half the night, and Kihyun desperately needs a long weekend with Hyungwon to rest and get past the nightmares.

Hyungwon tells his boss there's a family emergency and he'll be back on Monday. He calls Kihyun's office as well. Then he curls back around Kihyun in bed until they both fall asleep.

 

The first thing Kihyun notices, even before his eyes are open, is the funny smell, like when he went camping with his friends in high school and Yoongi kept throwing plastic food wrappers into the fire. Next, Kihyun notices the heat. The room feels like it's on fire, and when Kihyun opens his eyes, he realises that's because it is.

The curtains around the window are in flames, the carpet flickering as it melts. Thick, black smoke fills the room, pouring in from the hallway through the smoldering bedroom door as it crumbles to the floor in a pile of ashes and red-orange embers.

Kihyun sucks in a breath, but it's a mistake. There's no clean air in the room, and Kihyun is reduced to a continuous fit of coughing, choking and gagging on the burning plastic smell in the air as he fumbles for a sheet or shirt, something to cover his face. His hands skim over the bed, across Hyungwon's chest and arm, and he smacks frantically at his husband, hoping that for once Hyungwon won't snore right through the end of the world.

Through the roar of the flames and the crackling and creaking of their building being consumed, Kihyun hears a siren.  _ Thank the gods, _ he thinks. Help is on the way. He just needs to get Hyungwon up and find the best way out, the best place for the firemen to rescue them from. His first instinct would be the window, but besides the fact that the entire area surrounding it is entirely engulfed in flames, he remembers that breaking or opening a window during a fire could actually be more dangerous, causing a backdraft as extra oxygen is introduced to the room.

“Hyungwon, love! You have to wake up!” Kihyun screams, jiggling Hyungwon's shoulder violently. Hyungwon doesn't respond. He doesn't shift or roll over or grunt and swat Kihyun away. He just lies there, motionless except for the flopping of his limbs caused by Kihyun's attempts to wake him. “Hyungwon, please! Come on, we have to get out of here!” Kihyun shouts. Still, he gets no response, and he's starting to really panic now.

His throat and lungs burn with every smoky breath, and the lack of oxygen is making him feel weak and disoriented. There's no way he'll be able to drag Hyungwon to safety in this state.

A loud crash startles Kihyun, the framing around the window collapsing into the room, but it has zero effect on Hyungwon. The glass shatters, and with a whoosh, the bedding around them catches as well.

“Hyungwon!” Kihyun shrieks, desperate, hysterical. He screams again and again as he tugs at Hyungwon's arm, but when Kihyun looks closer at his husband, there's soot collected around his mouth and nose. His chest isn't moving, he's not coughing, he's not  _ breathing. _

Kihyun scrambles up the bed as the fire spreads across the duvet, burning Hyungwon's feet as his body remains lifeless.

Pulling Hyungwon up to the head of the bed with him, Kihyun attempts to toss the duvet on the floor, only succeeding in causing the end of the mattress to flare up. Everything in the room seems to be incredibly flammable, and Kihyun doesn’t know what to do. The sirens have stopped, presumably outside the building. He hopes that means the firefighters are on their way up the stairs, but the apartment is on the third floor. There are at least twenty apartments they’ll have to check before they reach them.

Kihyun finally thinks to check Hyungwon’s pulse, wrapping his fingers around Hyungwon’s wrist, an unanswered prayer on his lips as he finds he can’t feel the slightest movement of blood under Hyungwon’s skin. It’s happening again. He’s watching his husband die again, and this time Kihyun is probably going to die right along with him. His only thought is that he needs to be as close to Hyungwon as possible as he goes, for some odd reason worrying that if they’re separated, he’ll lose Hyungwon in the afterlife.

Someone pounds on the apartment door, but Kihyun ignores it. It’s not like he could get to the door anyway, and he refuses to release Hyungwon for anything. The pounding turns into a crash as the firefighters shatter the door.

They're too late, Kihyun knows. Even if they manage to carry him out, Hyungwon is already gone. So Kihyun doesn't call out to be rescued, at least not intentionally. He hears them banging around the apartment, making their way toward the bedroom as he watches the fire spread up the mattress toward his feet, screaming when the flames finally reach his flesh.

Kihyun has never felt such pain before. The only thing he's ever burned himself on is food, and while molten hot cheese can sear a few layers of the sensitive skin inside a person's mouth, it doesn't compare to the agony Kihyun feels as his legs are literally roasted right there in the bed. As much as he was resigned to letting the fire take him a moment ago, his body seems to have different ideas. He shrieks and thrashes involuntarily.

Apparently having heard Kihyun’s screams, the firefighters come stomping into the bedroom. One of them throws Kihyun over his shoulder, despite Kihyun’s shouting that he won’t leave Hyungwon, while the other lifts Hyungwon onto his back. Kihyun dissolves into a coughing fit, choking on the thick, black smoke that fills the entire apartment from what he can see as he’s carried out. By the time he manages to suck in a solid breath, they’re out on the sidewalk beside an ambulance, and he’s being dropped onto a stretcher surrounded by paramedics. He can’t see where they’ve taken Hyungwon, and at least six hands are on his body, simultaneously holding him down and trying to take his vitals as he struggles to break free and find his husband.

There’s a pinch on the inside of his elbow, and when he looks down, one of the paramedics is pulling away with an empty syringe in his hand. “No,” Kihyun whines, but he can already feel the sedative taking effect. His head, which was already swimming from lack of oxygen and excessive smoke, gets even fuzzier, the whole world around him sways, and his head hits a bar on the side of the stretcher as he goes down.

 

This time, Kihyun wakes to Hyungwon hacking up a lung on the other side of the bed.

“Love?” he asks as Hyungwon gasps and struggles to sit up. “What's wrong?”

“Nothing,” Hyungwon croaks. “Just… choked on my own drool or something.” The coughing subsides, and Kihyun breathes a sigh of relief as Hyungwon slumps back into the pillows.

“Can I get you some water or something?”

“No, no,” Hyungwon waves him off. “I'm fine. Sorry I woke you, babe.”

“It's okay,” Kihyun smiles. Honestly, he's just relieved it was a small incident and that he's not watching Hyungwon choke to death.

Kihyun glances at the clock. It’s only about ten minutes before they have to get up, and though he remembers going to bed at a reasonable time on Thursday night, that feels like it was a week ago. He’s completely drained. He needs proper rest and quality time with his husband, especially since he assumes Hyungwon will find some other way to die within less than twenty-four hours.

“Do you have any sick days left?”

“Hmm?” Hyungwon hums drowsily. He’s already on his way back to sleep, probably unaware of the time.

“Can you take a sick day today? Play hooky with me?”

Hyungwon rolls over, facing Kihyun, and sure enough, he’s barely keeping his eyes open.

“Probably, why?”

“Do I need a reason?” Kihyun pouts. “Just wanna spend time with you. Take a long weekend together. Can you?” He blinks up at Hyungwon, giving his best imitation of a puppy begging for table scraps.

“Mm,” Hyungwon grunts. “Text my boss for me. If I’m not going to work, I’m not getting up yet.”

Kihyun internally rejoices, somersaulting around the room in his mind. He reaches across Hyungwon for his phone and texts both of their employers to let them know they won’t be coming in today. Then he turns his back to Hyungwon and scoots until Hyungwon’s arm winds around his waist and pulls him into little spoon position.

He tries to fall back asleep, but he finds it impossible to quiet his busy thoughts. His brain is trying to comprehend what’s going on, sifting through facts.

All Kihyun knows is that they’re stuck in some sort of time loop and that he seems to be the only one aware of it. Each time the day restarts, Hyungwon is alive, and by the time the day is ending, Hyungwon is… not.

It’s Friday again, and that means something must have happened on Thursday to cause the skip in their broken record.  _ But what was different about Thursday from any other day? _ Kihyun doesn’t remember anything strange happening. It had actually been very routine, almost boring.

Kihyun’s day had started with breakfast and coffee, just like every other day, and just like every other day, he had waved Hyungwon off from the window. He’d gone to work and met the same people he always did. Youngjae, the cute FedEx guy with the pretty eye smile, had delivered a package to the office, but it was just cases of paper from the office supply store. His boss had sent him to the deli around the corner to get lunch, but it was the same lunch he always ordered and the same employees preparing it. He hadn’t stopped anywhere on the way home, and he and Hyungwon had cooked dinner together that night. Neither of them had been out anywhere since they arrived home from work. Kihyun can’t think of a single thing that could have been the instigator.

By the time his brain has finally worn itself out running in circles, the sun is starting to rise. The bedroom is bathed in orange light, slightly muted by the yellow, semi-sheer curtains hanging over the window. With his eyes closed, the inside of Kihyun’s eyelids blaze a bright red. It reminds him of the fire, and he snaps them back open with a gasp.

Hyungwon snuffles against Kihyun’s shoulder, and Kihyun turns his head to check that Hyungwon is alright. The tiny chains of his earring slide down his neck, and the sapphires land on Hyungwon’s nose. Kihyun giggles at the way Hyungwon’s cheeks twitch in his sleep as he tries to remove them. His laughter makes the bed shake, and Hyungwon cracks one eye open to glare at Kihyun for disturbing him.

“Sorry, love. Didn’t mean to tickle you. The back was stuck on my earring when I went to bed, and I didn’t want to bother you to help me take it out.”

“‘S okay. I like it on you anyway. Looks sexy.”

Hyungwon lazily moves to nip at Kihyun’s ear, tugging gently on the post of the earring in a way that makes Kihyun’s whole body tingle, and that’s when it hits him.

The only difference about Thursday is the earring. Not only is it the day Hyungwon brought it home from the antique store, but it’s also the first time since he was a teenager that Kihyun had actually slept in his jewelry.

It was stuck. The crazy, weird, antique, screw-on back of the earring was - is - stuck. Kihyun had tried for ages to remove it. When it wouldn’t unscrew, he’d tried to just pry it off, but eventually he’d given up because he was tired and it was starting to make his earlobe sore. Then he’d gone to sleep, and Hyungwon had been crushed by that truck the very next morning. Now  _ they _ were stuck… stuck in one hellish, repetitive day. Maybe all he’d have to do is find a way to remove the earring and time would fix itself. Kihyun could hope, anyway.

 

Later in the morning, after a shower and several failed attempts by Hyungwon to remove the earring, Kihyun’s stomach is grumbling too loudly to ignore. They decide to walk to their favorite cafe for breakfast, a special treat since they usually don’t even have the time to eat breakfast together at all.

Kihyun suggests that they sit outside. It’s a beautiful, sunny day, and there are plenty of tables open on the patio whereas the inside of the cafe is rather crowded for brunchtime on a workday.

The waitress brings them menus and pours them coffee to sip while they decide what to order. Another couple at a table nearby has brought their dog, and she keeps padding over to Kihyun in hopes that he has some crumbs to drop for her. Hyungwon smiles and laughs, scratching the dog between her ears.

Kihyun orders a veggie omelet and snorts at Hyungwon’s order of the biggest stack of pancakes they have along with a side of every meat.

“What’s so funny?” Hyungwon asks when the waitress walks away.

“You, love,” Kihyun giggles. “You sound like Ron Swanson. ‘Just give me all the bacon and eggs you have.’”

Hyungwon finds this funny as well, as do the couple with the dog. They introduce themselves, and Kihyun tries not to flinch when the woman compliments his earring.

Hyungwon’s plates arrive before Kihyun’s omelet. Kihyun is mesmerised by the deep purple color of the blackberry syrup as it drips down the sides of the pancakes, and by the time his own food is brought to the table, his mouth is watering and he’s debating stealing a bite from Hyungwon’s plate.

After demolishing the pancakes, Hyungwon starts in on the plate of ham, bacon, and sausage. He’s halfway through when he suddenly stops eating, sets the fork on the edge of the plate, and places a hand over his stomach.

“Eyes bigger than your stomach?” Kihyun teases, but his attitude quickly changes when Hyungwon doubles over. His head smacks against the table in the process and lets out a pained groan. “Love?”

“Ki… something’s wrong.”

The waitress is suddenly standing by their table, flustered and upset, telling them she’s calling an ambulance though Kihyun can’t figure out why. Isn’t it just a stomach ache? Hyungwon probably ate too much, too fast. It’s indigestion or something.

But it’s not, and that becomes obvious as Hyungwon continues to clutch his stomach. His muscles are tense and twitchy. When Kihyun holds his hand, Hyungwon randomly squeezes him, gripping his fingers nearly tight enough to crush his bones.

A few terrifying minutes later, paramedics load Hyungwon into the back of an ambulance. They sedate him, and once he’s out, they tell Kihyun it might be food poisoning. There’s nothing else they can do for him until they get him to the hospital.

Nurses meet them at the Emergency Room door. They wheel Hyungwon directly to a room where they interrogate Kihyun, wanting to know what he ate, how much, how long ago, etc. Kihyun isn’t even sure how to answer some of the questions, but he does his best as he watches a nurse start an IV.

Things quiet down for a bit as the doctors decide how to treat Hyungwon… until Hyungwon starts seizing. Something is injected in his IV to stop the seizures, but it doesn’t seem to help much. Over the next few hours, Hyungwon seizes multiple times. His heart rate becomes erratic, and his blood pressure skyrockets. His lips start to take on a bluish hue. He starts panting and sweating, and his muscles keep locking up in strange ways that cause his back and neck to contort like he’s possessed by a demon.

Eventually the doctors have to intubate Hyungwon to help him breathe. Kihyun is pushed to the corner of the room as they use the defibrillator to shock Hyungwon’s heart back into a proper rhythm. It doesn’t work, at least not for long, and after the fourth time he codes, the doctors are unable to get his heart working again.

Kihyun is left alone in the room with Hyungwon. His body is too still on the bed, but for the first time since breakfast, he looks relaxed. Kihyun wonders what happened this time. Was it actually food poisoning or maybe some kind of infection? But no, it can’t be an infection when the police are standing in the doorway, waiting to talk to Kihyun.

“The waitress confessed,” the male officer tells Kihyun. His partner, a woman, seems to have a permanent scowl on her face, but the man looks gentle and sympathetic. “It was strychnine poisoning. She meant for it to go to another table where her ex boyfriend was sitting, but another employee accidentally delivered it to your husband.”

The blackberry syrup… it had been laced with strychnine, a huge dose. It causes seizures and muscle spasms that lead to heart and respiratory failure. It’s a painful, torturous way to go, and Kihyun had been forced to watch the whole thing, unable to do anything to ease his husband’s suffering.

“Do you need anything from me?” Kihyun asks the officers.

“Not right now, but we'll need your contact information for later.”

Kihyun writes his phone number down, knowing they won’t actually need it because Hyungwon will be alive again in the morning, completely unaware of how he’d suffered today. This knowledge makes it difficult for Kihyun to connect the proper emotions to the situation. Yes, he’s devastated that he’s lost Hyungwon again, but it’s not permanent. All Kihyun wants to do is go home, go to bed, and wake up next to Hyungwon in the morning.

 

“Ugh, I’m so sore,” Hyungwon complains as he climbs into the shower behind Kihyun. “It’s like I spent all night lifting weights or something.”

_ Or something, _ Kihyun thinks. He makes sure to spend a few extra minutes working the knots out of Hyungwon's neck and shoulders as he lathers him with body wash.

Kihyun waves goodbye to Hyungwon from the window when it's time for him to leave for work, but rather than going to work himself, he laces his trainers and heads out to Lee's Antiques.

The owner, Jooheon, greets Kihyun with a dimpled grin as he enters. “Yoo, it's good to see you. Where's the tall one?”

Kihyun smiles. He likes Jooheon. Kihyun and Hyungwon come here often. They both have an affinity for old furniture and odd knick knacks that can only be found in places like this, and Jooheon always gives them a good deal, letting them haggle over the price until they're satisfied.

He _ trusts _ Jooheon, but  _ something  _ is going on with this earring. Jooheon probably knows nothing about it, but he’s the only person Kihyun can think to ask.

“Hyungwon is at work today, and I have some… business to take care of. I had a question for you.”

“Sure, anything. What is it? Are you looking for something? I think I have a lead on that matching nightstand. Oh!” Jooheon suddenly steps around the counter toward Kihyun, gesturing at his ear. “He gave it to you. You know, he was so taken with it when he saw it. I let him talk me down quite a bit on the price.”

“Actually, that’s what I’m here about. Can I ask where you got it?”

“Ah, I hope you’re not looking for the other half of the pair. I believe it was one of a kind. I found it in an old jewelry box I acquired at an estate sale. Everything else in the box was fake, costume stuff, but this one… it’s something special. Those are real sapphires, old ones, too.”

Kihyun blushes as he remembers how happy Hyungwon had been when he gave Kihyun the earring. It seems like it happened months ago, but by Kihyun's calculations it's only been about five horrible days.

“I'm definitely not looking for another one. I was wondering if you know anything about the previous owner or the history of it.”

“Not really,” Jooheon admits, scratching his chin as he thinks. “The sale was for multiple estates. I'm not even sure who the previous owner was. Kihyun, is there something wrong with the earring? You know I'll give you a full refund if you want to return it.”

“It’s going to sound weird, but I don't think I _ can _ return it. It's stuck, see?” Kihyun once again attempts to unscrew the back of the earring, and he swears he feels a pinch as it tightens around his earlobe instead.

“Let me take a look.”

Jooheon steps closer, examining the earring. Kihyun stands very still as Jooheon pulls at the back and tries to unscrew it, but it still won't budge.

“That is strange, indeed. I'm not sure it can be removed without damaging it.” Jooheon pauses. He looks as if he's debating whether to say something, and then he asks, “Is... is there anything else strange going on?”

Kihyun hesitates. If he answers the question truthfully, either Jooheon is going to think he's crazy, or he's going to confirm that Kihyun is… what? Cursed? But if it _ is _ a curse, he needs to find some way to break it

“Yes. Yes, there is something strange going on, Jooheon. I think I'm stuck in some horror remake of Groundhog's Day. I keep reliving this same Friday, and every time the day repeats, Hyungwon… he dies.”

“Cursed,” Jooheon replies darkly. “I'm so sorry, Kihyun, but it seems I've sold your husband a cursed object. It happens from time to time in this business. You're lucky, actually. The last cursed object I sold turned the owner into a serial killer. She racked up nine victims before my friend managed to break the curse, and now she's in Mexico, hiding from the police.”

“Wait.” While all of that sounds awful, Kihyun does actually manage to pick up on the fact that Jooheon mentioned breaking the curse. “Who is this friend?”

“Let me go get his card. He's not far from here. You should probably see him immediately.”

Jooheon shuffles back behind the counter and sifts through stacks of envelopes and invoices until he comes across a black business card for a bookshop located just two blocks away. The lettering is printed in iridescent, metallic, rainbow ink, and it shimmers even when Kihyun isn't moving the card at all 

“A bookstore?”

“Yes. Well, sort of. He does sell books, but his real business is sorcery. The bookshop is a front.”

“I see,” Kihyun murmurs. He's skeptical. Up until a few days ago, Kihyun hadn't believed in any kind of magic. But now… Kihyun is willing to try anything to keep Hyungwon from dying again, especially in case the next time is permanent.

“Thank you, Jooheon. You've been very helpful,” Kihyun tells him as he makes his way to the door.

“I wish I could do more. My offer for a refund still stands.”

“That's alright. It's not your fault. Hyungwon would understand. Have a nice day.”

 

The bookshop is called Reader's Attic, and from standing outside, it looks far too small to hold any actual books. Maybe one, for this sorcerer to hold his spells, but that's it.

Walking through the door, Kihyun is hit with the smell of old paper, and he thinks he knows how Jooheon and this guy became friends. The narrow aisles of cramped shelves contain nothing but old, antique books. Most of them look to be in good condition. They're probably worth a fortune.

Behind the counter stands a man about Kihyun's age, although he's dressed like he stepped right out of the 1880s. His suit jacket has a narrow lapel and fits a bit too snug, even for such a slight frame, the shirt has a wingtip collar, and the tie is just the tiniest sliver of fabric. There's even a chain dangling from the man's vest, indicating he's carrying a pocket watch. Kihyun can't remember ever seeing an actual pocket watch outside of a movie.

“Can I help you find something?” the man asks, and Kihyun blanks for a moment, completely forgetting why he's come here.

“Umm… Oh! Oh, yes. I'm looking for…” he has to look at the card to remember the name, “Baekhyun?”

The man's eyes narrow suspiciously. “For what reason do you seek Baekhyun?”

Okay, so this guy is definitely Baekhyun, and he's definitely odd. Kihyun opens and closes his mouth, trying again to recall why he's here. “I-I, um, that is, I need some help.”

“What kind of help? I can help you find a book. Otherwise, you can be on your way.”

Baekhyun's tone is dismissive, and Kihyun gets the feeling that gaining his trust is going to be an uphill battle.

“Well?” He impatiently taps a manicured nail against the cover of a book. Kihyun blinks and sees a vivid flash of himself being tossed out of the shop. He scrambles for the right words to turn this encounter around.

“Jooheon sent me. He said you could help. I need help, please.” Kihyun hates how desperate he sounds, but it mirrors the desperation he feels inside, knowing that if Baekhyun can't help him, Kihyun will be stuck in this day forever and Hyungwon will just continue to die.

At the mention of Jooheon's name, Baekhyun's posture changes. He steps around the counter and approaches Kihyun, sniffing the air.

“A curse,” he spits, literally. Baekhyun spits on the hardwood floor between their feet. “Terribly sorry for that. Just don't want the damn thing spreading. Go through that door and have a seat while I close up.” Baekhyun points toward a door behind the counter and gently shoves Kihyun in the right direction before locking the door and turning the open sign to read ‘closed for lunch’.

In the back room are a pair of chairs covered in plush, red velvet. There's a workbench and a full wall of shelves filled with dozens of vials and jars containing different kinds of leaves, seeds, and powders as well as liquids in an entire rainbow of colors.

Kihyun sits in the chair nearest the door and nervously wrings his hands as Baekhyun makes his way to the other chair.

“Well, the curse is strong, that much I can smell. I should have smelled it when you walked in the door, but you're surrounded by a suffocating cloud of jasmine.” Baekhyun wrinkles his nose in disgust and mutters, “Love, ugh.”

“Do you think you can break it?”

“Of course I can,” Baekhyun squawks, offended. “I'm a master curse breaker. I can break _ any _ curse. So what is it? Your wedding band?”

Kihyun twists the ring around his finger. “No, it's my earring.”

“Ah, yes,” Baekhyun claps his hands. “I knew it was something shiny. Shiny things are very good for curses. They're irresistible. And what kind of curse are we talking about? Are you ill?”

“No. Every day is Friday and my husband keeps dying.”

“Ooh, a time loop curse.” Kihyun would swear Baekhyun sounds excited. “I haven't seen one of those in decades. Must be pretty old.”

“My husband did buy the earring from Jooheon, so I assume it is old.”

“Not the earring, the curse. Just because the cursed object is old doesn’t mean the curse is old. This one has probably killed quite a few people in its time. See, a sorcerer or sorceress might have originally tried to curse a particular person, maybe a woman who left them to marry someone else. It’s kind of like, fuck you, you’ll never be happy. The problem is that the curse is indiscriminate. It will curse anyone who wears the earring, even innocents such as yourself. I hope this isn’t part of a pair,” Baekhyun muses.

“So how do you break the curse?” Kihyun watches a scowl form on Baekhyun’s face as his thoughts are interrupted.

“Hand it over and I’ll see what I can do.”

“I can’t.”

“What do you mean you can’t? Does it burn your fingers or shock you when you try?”

“No, it just won’t come off. The back is stuck.”

“Stuck… If it’s stuck then this may be easier than I had originally thought. It’s possible that just removing the earring will break the curse, or at least that you personally will no longer be cursed.”

Baekhyun turns to rummage through a drawer in the workbench that, from what Kihyun can see, is just full of junk, and produces a pair of wire cutters.

“Let’s just snip it off and see how it goes.”

When Baekhyun fits the wire cutters between the back of the earring and Kihyun’s earlobe, they feel like a red hot poker against his skin. Baekhyun has to squeeze with both hands to get them to cut through the post of the earring, but then there’s a click and the earring slips out of his ear and drops to the floor.

“I’ll take that,” Baekhyun says as he swipes the earring from the floor. “Can’t have a cursed object getting into the wrong hands, right?”

Kihyun nods. “So that’s it? I’m done? No longer cursed?”

“You’re done. I mean, you’re still surrounded by jasmine. I could take care of that for you while you’re here, but I’m assuming you want to keep your husband around, huh?”

“Um, yes please.”

“Alright then, go home and get some rest so you can finally enjoy your long awaited Saturday.”

As Kihyun leaves the bookshop, he feels like a weight has lifted from him. He texts Hyungwon to remind him of the play that evening, and he goes home to prepare a special evening for Hyungwon.

 

It doesn't take long for Kihyun to find out if Baekhyun's theory is correct.

That evening, as they're on their way to Hyunwoo's show, a car slams into their cab, smashing the passenger side of the cab where Hyungwon is seated. Police cars screech to a halt behind the car that had hit them, and officers emerge from the vehicles with their weapons drawn.

Hyungwon's head has landed in Kihyun's lap, his body thrown across the car during the accident, and Kihyun holds him there as he struggles to breathe. Kihyun shushes Hyungwon when he tries to speak and winds up dribbling mouthfuls of blood that bubbles up from his lungs or stomach or whatever part of him has been irreparably crushed to run down his chin and stain Kihyun’s pants.

No one even looks their way until the other driver is in custody, and by then, it's too late. Hyungwon is no longer breathing at all. Paramedics can't revive him.

Kihyun spends the rest of the evening in the emergency room being stitched up wherever the broken glass from the cab's windows had cut him, and when he falls asleep in his hospital bed, he hopes the curse hasn't been broken yet.

 

“It didn’t work,” Kihyun says as he slams his fist on Baekhyun’s counter.

“I’m sorry, can I help you?” Baekhyun’s hand flutters up to his chest, slender fingers absently running over the chain of his pocket watch.

“Yeah, you can get this earring out of my ear and try some other way to break the curse.”

“I believe you’ve entered the wrong store, sir, unless you were looking for a book?” He gestures to the shelves and cocks an eyebrow at Kihyun.

“Don’t pull that shit with me, Baekhyun. I was just here yesterday. You clipped the earring out of my ear, but I wake up this morning and boom, it’s back.” Baekhyun narrows his eyes, squinting at the earring. “Shit, you really don’t remember, do you? Fine, I’ll explain it again. There’s a time loop curse on the earring. I can’t remove it without wire cutters, and it’s causing my husband to die every day.”

Baekhyun leans over the counter, sniffs, and pulls back with his nose all crinkled up. “Jasmine, yuck. But I do smell the curse, now that you mention it. Powerful.”

“Yes, Baekhyun, you said as much yesterday. Now, what are you going to do about it?”

With a heavy, put upon sigh, Baekhyun motions for Kihyun to follow him into the back room. He points at the chair where Kihyun had sat the previous day, retrieves the wire cutters from the junk drawer, and approaches Kihyun to examine the earring.

“You say I cut it off yesterday? What did I do with it?”

“How should I know? You said I should be fine and kept it when I left.”

“Mm,” he hums quietly, very close to Kihyun’s ear, and his voice brings goosebumps to Kihyun’s skin and sends a shiver down his spine. The searing heat returns when Baekhyun fits the wire cutters around the post, and Kihyun struggles not to hiss and flinch away. “If I were past me… alternate universe me? No, probably past me. If I were past me, I would most likely try to contain the magic rather than destroying it. At first, anyway.” Kihyun listens to Baekhyun thinking aloud and wonders if maybe Baekhyun has exaggerated his curse-breaking abilities.

-click-

The earring drops into Baekhyun’s hand.

“I would place it in my safebox. Most magical things can’t do any harm from inside the safebox,” he says, speaking to Kihyun now rather than himself, “and it’s very difficult for them to escape, even if summoned by their original owner. Perhaps the reset of the time loop caused it to return to you. I’m sorry, did you tell me your name?”

“Kihyun. Jooheon sent me.”

“Well,  _ that  _ explains some things,” Baekhyun comments. “Kihyun, I’m going to try to destroy the earring now. It might be dangerous. Have a nice day.”

Dismissed. Kihyun is being dismissed, but this is exactly what happened yesterday. He walked away without watching Baekhyun destroy the earring, and then it had come right back the next morning.

“No. I’m not going anywhere. You’re going to destroy the earring, right now, and I’m going to watch you do it.”

“Darling, I really don’t think you understand what I mean when I say dangerous.” As he speaks, Baekhyun begins ushering Kihyun out toward the front of the bookshop. “There will be spells. And fire. Big fire. I might even burn the building down.  _ Or blow it up,” _ he mumbles under his breath. “It would be best if you leave. Now,” and he pushes Kihyun through the door, but Kihyun doesn’t go so easily.

With one of Kihyun's feet wedged in the doorway, Baekhyun can’t shut the door, and Kihyun somehow manages to grab hold of the doorframe to keep himself from being shoved away.

“No,” he protests. “Baekhyun, you can’t do this! I’m the one who’s cursed; you can’t just exclude me from this.”

“Shhhh!” Baekhyun hisses at him and drags him back inside the shop. “Magic business stays behind this door. No talk of curses or what I  _ actually _ do passes that threshold. Understood?”

“Does that mean you’ll let me watch you break the curse?”

“Ugh,” Baekhyun groans, and his long fingers wrap around Kihyun’s wrist as he stalks back toward the back room with Kihyun in tow. “Fine, but if you perish, I’ll not be held responsible.”

Kihyun can’t help but giggle at that. “Do you always talk like that?”

“Like what?”

“Nevermind,” Kihyun snorts.

When they reach the back room, Baekhyun tells Kihyun to sit down and not move, and for good measure, he flicks a finger to slide the chair back against the wall. Kihyun tries to adjust himself so he can see better, but he finds his ass is stuck to the seat.

“Really, Baekhyun? Is this necessary?”

“I told you, I’ll be burning it with fire. It might be dangerous, and even more so if you should get in my way.” Baekhyun speaks as though he’s too busy to be bothered with Kihyun’s nonsense, with his back to Kihyun as he prepares to cast his spell, but as an afterthought, he adds, “In case you were wondering, I’ve placed a protection charm around you, as a precaution. Should I die a fiery death in the midst of this spell, you shall be perfectly safe.”

Before he begins the spell, Baekhyun steps to the side, giving Kihyun a good view of the earring sitting all alone in the middle of the workbench. Baekhyun pushes the tight sleeves of his suit jacket halfway up his forearms, rolls his shoulders, and holds his hands out in front of him. For a moment, he just stands there. He doesn’t say any magic words or use a wand. He doesn’t even snap his fingers, but suddenly the earring starts glowing bright purple. Pink smoke billows up from the workbench, and then come the flames.

They start out green before flaring up and fading into a deep, night sky blue. A screeching sound fills the room as the curse protests the countercurse. The ear-splitting sound causes Kihyun to duck his head and cover his ears, and then there’s a loud pop, like a bubble bursting.

The screeching stops instantly, and the flames start to die down, turning to a more normal, yellow-orange color. The smoke dissipates, but as it drifts toward Kihyun, he pinches his nose to avoid the sulfurous smell.

When the fire finally burns out, Baekhyun drops his hands and cautiously approaches the workbench.

“Is it gone?” Kihyun asks, receiving a side-eye from Baekhyun.

“Nothing left but ashes,” he says. “Consider yourself free from the curse. Want me to take care of that jasmine?”

“The love? No, thank you. Do I owe you anything?”

Baekhyun shakes his head. “Call it a favor, but remember that you only get one.”

“Two. I was here yesterday, after all.”

“Yes, but yesterday I failed. Today will be different. Have a nice, long, jasmine-y life, Kihyun.”

“Thanks. I will.”

 

“Everything alright?” Hyungwon asks when he arrives home. Normally he’d be the first one home, so it’s probably a bit concerning to find Kihyun standing in the kitchen, stirring a pot of budae jjigae.

“Yep, everything’s great. Just wanted to surprise you.”

“That’s sweet, baby,” Hyungwon says as he slips his arms around Kihyun’s waist, his chin hooked over Kihyun’s shoulder to watch him stir. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. Would you mind setting the table for me?”

After turning his head to peck Kihyun’s cheek, Hyungwon steps over to the cabinet for bowls and glasses. He lays them out on the coffee table and grabs a half-empty bottle of wine from the fridge.

“Is it ready to eat?” Hyungwon asks. Kihyun doesn’t have to answer. He’s already carrying the pot over to the table along with an extra kitchen towel to protect the wood from the heat of the pot. “Oh, good. I’m starving.”

Kihyun is only a few steps from the table when he feels the first tremor. Thankfully, he doesn’t spill the stew, but as Kihyun sets it down, he feels it again, stronger.

Where Kihyun grew up, they had earthquakes all the time. Mostly they were minor, but the few times that they had been above a 5.5, Kihyun remembers them starting out like this. His mother had told him he was the only one who felt the baby quakes at the beginning, but to Kihyun, it was like the earth was warning its inhabitants that something bad was coming and they should take cover.

“Get in the doorway,” Kihyun tells Hyungwon, pushing him toward the hall where there are several doorways to huddle in.

“What? Why?”

“Earthquake. There’s an earthquake coming. Get in the doorway, love.”

Hyungwon obeys, but he looks at Kihyun like he might have lost his mind.

For several minutes, they stand beneath the frame of their bedroom door, waiting for something to happen, but when nothing does, Hyungwon starts to leave the safety of the doorway. Kihyun grabs his elbow.

“Wait, it’s coming. You can’t leave.”

“Babe, I’m starving. Can’t you be psychic or whatever after I’ve eaten?”

Kihyun, still feeling the adrenaline from the earlier tremors, slides his hand down Hyungwon’s arm to find his fingers, holding him in place. “Just… give it a minute. I know it’s coming. Please.”

Hyungwon rolls his eyes, but he leans against the frame of the door and waits.

“Hyungwon,” Kihyun says, starting to tear up a bit. “I love you, you know.”

“Yeah, baby. I know. I love you, too. Hey, what’s wrong?”

Kihyun shakes his head, not wanting to explain that visions of Hyungwon bleeding out in his arms, his body broken beyond repair, are floating through his head, and they’re not images his mind has conjured up. They’re actual memories of all the times Hyungwon has died right before his eyes.

The tears slip down his cheeks, but he doesn’t speak. Instead, he tugs Hyungwon’s collar to draw him in for a kiss, desperate and needy. He says a silent prayer, and they wait.

It finally comes about ten minutes later. The whole apartment shakes like it’s going to come crashing to the ground. The dishes in the cabinets clatter, and framed pictures fall off the walls, the glass shattering as they hit the hardwood.

The floor seems to pitch sideways, throwing them both out of the doorway and into the bedroom where a bookcase teeters before slamming back upright against the wall. The bed has been rattled a whole foot toward the center of the room, and half of the dresser drawers have worked their way open, but the ground is finally still.

Kihyun scrambles back to the doorway, knowing it’s not quite over, but Hyungwon moves a little slower. He rolls toward the bookcase and sits up, rubbing his shoulder where he’d hit the floor. No matter how many times Kihyun frantically tells him to come back to the door, Hyungwon doesn’t move any faster. He gradually scoots on his ass toward Kihyun, but he’s in no hurry. It’s like he’s turned into a sloth.

The first aftershock hits, and Hyungwon is still sitting in the middle of the bedroom. The bookcase rocks forward again. The books start to slide out into the floor, some of them landing on Hyungwon, and then it falls over completely, right on top of Hyungwon’s head. It doesn’t even make it to the ground. There’s no crash. With a dull thud, Hyungwon’s skull is cracked wide open, part of his brain visible around the shelf embedded in his head.

Kihyun curls up in the doorway, hugging his knees to his chest. He falls asleep like this as he waits out the following aftershocks.

 

Kihyun's alarm wakes him in the morning. He slaps at the nightstand to shut it off and groans as he rolls over. His body is stiff and sore, and sapphires brush against his shoulder as he tilts his head sideways to crack his neck.

In a moment of blind rage at the fact that the earring has returned again, that the countercurse hadn’t worked, Kihyun jerks the silver chains on the earring and rips it right out of his ear, tearing his earlobe in half in the process. It’s not until he feels the warmth of blood trickling down his neck that he realises what he’s done, but it can’t be undone. At least he won’t have to feel the burn of the wire cutters today when he returns to Reader's Attic.

Hyungwon groans in his sleep and clutches his head. He probably has a lingering headache from having his head split open, and he whines in pain when Kihyun jostles the mattress as he slips out of bed to find something to stop his ear from bleeding all over the sheets.

“Where’re you goin’?”

“Just here, love. I’m not leaving you.”

Hyungwon peeks an eye open, gasping at the sight of Kihyun’s ear. “What the hell happened?”

Thinking quickly, Kihyun tells Hyungwon that the earring must’ve caught on something in his sleep. Hyungwon looks a mixture of disappointed, horrified, and miserable due to his own pain.

“It’s alright. It will heal. I’m going to take some ibuprofen, would you like some?”

All Hyungwon can do is groan in response, too achy to move his head to nod.

Hyungwon decides to call in sick when, after a double dose of painkillers and a long, hot shower, his head is still pounding. He recommends Kihyun go to the hospital to see if he needs stitches, and Kihyun agrees, but instead of going to the hospital, Kihyun goes to see Baekhyun.

He doesn’t do what he wants to do when he enters the bookshop, which is to throw the earring at Baekhyun and demand he fucking fix it. Kihyun knows Baekhyun won’t even recognise him, so instead, he holds the earring out over the counter and demands Baekhyun smell it.

Baekhyun’s nose wrinkles. “I can smell it from here. Love, ick.”

“No, not me. Smell the earring.”

After a tentative sniff, Baekhyun takes a step back from the counter. “Where in the hell did you find that?” he asks, and Kihyun frowns at him.

“Jooheon sold it to my husband. You burned it to ash yesterday, but when I woke up this morning, it was back in my ear.”

“Ooh, a time loop curse. I haven’t seen one of those in-”

“Decades, I know,” Kihyun interrupts. “Except that you have. Twice now. Please tell me you actually know how to break this curse.”

“Of course I do,” Baekhyun says, pressing a palm to his chest in offense. “I’m a master cursebreaker. I can break any curse.”

“Mm, that remains to be seen. Shall we try this again?”

“Hand it over. I’ll see what I can do.” Baekhyun holds out his hand for the earring, and Kihyun drops the earring into Baekhyun’s hand but doesn’t move to leave. After a few moments of examining the earring, Baekhyun seems to realise Kihyun is still standing at the counter. “Um, thank you for bringing it to me. Have a nice-”

“Baekhyun, if you tell me to leave and you’ll take care of it, I swear I will stand outside the door and scream to everyone who will listen that you fancy yourself a sorcerer but that you can’t even break a simple curse. I will stay there all day unless you let me watch you destroy it.”

Several seconds of tense silence follow before Baekhyun turns in his heel and disappears into the back room. He peeks his head around the corner and says, “Well, aren't you coming?” Kihyun scrambles around the counter before Baekhyun can change his mind.

“You say I burned it to ash yesterday? What color was the flame?”

“Bright green,” Kihyun tells him, “and then it turned to blue.”

“Mm, good spell.  _ Powerful _ spell. The curse must be stronger than I thought. There are only two other ways to break this curse, but one of them will require your husband's presence. Do you think you can get him to come down here?”

“Without explaining things?” Kihyun asks, rhetorically. “No, but he's home sleeping off a migraine right now. I'd rather not bother him today if I can avoid it. What's your other idea?”

“Containment. I'll encase the earring in a magic-proof resin that will keep the curse contained. The earring won't be able to return to you, hopefully, and the magic should be dimmed enough through the resin to end the time loop.” Baekhyun pauses, staring at the earring on the workbench, then heaves a sigh and says, “Well, let's get started.”

Unlike the previous day, Kihyun is not confined to the chair, though he is warned not to get in the way. Baekhyun tries to start the spell with the earring cupped in his palms, but he drops it with a squeak when it burns his skin.

“Spiteful object,” he spits and reaches up to a high shelf for a shallow ceramic bowl. “Stay!” he commands as the earring vibrates in the bowl.

Baekhyun holds his hand out in front of him, palm facing up, and then he curls his fingers into a fist. His eyes close. The screeching returns as he tightens his fist until his knuckles blanch and his entire arm shakes with the effort of squeezing so tight.

Kihyun focuses on the earring, the clinking he can hear underneath the screech and the way the sapphires keep bouncing in the bowl. With another pop, all noise in the room stops, like a sudden change in pressure has deafened Kihyun. A transparent substance surrounds the earring. It looks like a blob of glass or water with a greenish tint. The earring tries to escape, the sapphires popping out of the substance only to be sucked back in as the blob expands around it, hardening as it does so until there’s not even the tiniest bit of movement inside the resin.

Sound slowly returns, street noise of cars and pedestrians passing by the shop filtering into the back room. Baekhyun cautiously steps forward, tapping the little ball of resin before picking it up.

“Sometimes containing magic like this can cause an exothermic reaction,” Baekhyun explains when Kihyun cocks an eyebrow at him. “I was unsure how hot it would be.”

“Okay, so what happens now?”

“Well,” Baekhyun begins as he slips the ball inside of a bag and opens a cabinet, “I’d like to say that you are curse-free, but considering how the last two attempts have turned out, I’m a bit hesitant to do so just yet.” Inside the cabinet is what looks like a small chest, and as he speaks, Baekhyun runs his fingers along the lid, coaxing locks open with his magic. “I am eighty percent certain you will have no further troubles.” The lid of the chest pops free, hinges creaking as it opens, and Baekhyun deposits the bag inside the chest before resealing it.

“Alright then. So, I’ll see you tomorrow, I guess.”

“I sincerely hope not. Unless you want me to take care of that jasmine for you?”

“For the third time, no thank you. I’m quite happy with my husband.”

“Suit yourself. Farewell, Kihyun.”

 

Kihyun feels lighter as he enters the apartment. He stays quiet, not wanting to disturb Hyungwon if he’s still not feeling well, but he finds Hyungwon sitting up in bed, working on his laptop.

“Hey, love. How you feeling?”

“Mm, much better. The top of my head still aches a bit, but it’s stopped throbbing. I was just trying to settle this account for work. Wanna go out for lunch when I’m done?”

Kihyun shakes his head. He doesn’t want to go out anywhere until he’s sure the curse is broken. “Maybe we could eat here. I can make some stir fry or something.”

“How about pasta?” Hyungwon suggests.

“Sure, but I’ll have to run to the store for a few things.”

Hyungwon taps a few keys on the keyboard, then he closes his laptop. “Done. I’ll come with you.”

Kihyun likes shopping with Hyungwon. Unlike Kihyun who makes a list and sticks to it, Hyungwon shops for what looks tasty in the moment. He grabs a bundle of asparagus as they pass through the produce section in search of onions and peppers. He picks out a small box of cupcakes as Kihyun looks for ciabatta bread. He drops a little container of grated parmesan into the basket on their way to check out. It always adds a few dollars to their total, but it also adds a lot of variety to their meals, and Kihyun likes indulging Hyungwon.

Back at the apartment, Hyungwon offers to help cook, but Kihyun tells him he’d rather just have some company in the kitchen. He still doesn’t want Hyungwon near anything sharp.

“Why don’t you just open a bottle of wine and talk to me while I cook?”

Hyungwon finds a half-empty bottle in the fridge, the same one he’d chosen the night before. He pours them each a glass and settles with his back to the counter behind Kihyun.

Out of curiosity, and searching for a topic of conversation that will hopefully keep Hyungwon occupied and away from gas flames and knives, Kihyun asks about Jaesun.

“My cubicle-mate? He’s a nice guy. Family man. He has two little girls, five and three years old. His desk is so cluttered with scribbled drawings and photos that he barely has any space to work.” Kihyun smiles at Hyungwon’s fond, huffed laugh, and makes a mental reminder to get to know Jaesun a bit better. He sounds like a good person, and Hyungwon obviously thinks highly of him. It would be good for Jaesun to have some friends he can count on in case the whole suicide situation isn’t just something created by the curse.

Kihyun boils the pasta and sautés the vegetables. The whole kitchen smells like garlic and onions, and Hyungwon hums as he sneaks up behind Kihyun, wrapping his arms around Kihyun’s waist. “Mmm, smells amazing. How much longer? Should I set the table?”

“Nah, that’s okay. We’ll just serve it from here and carry it to the table ourselves.”

“Good, I’m not ready to let you go yet.”

_ Same, _ Kihyun thinks to himself, and he swats at Hyungwon’s hand as he steals a pepper from the pan.

They watch a movie after lunch, snuggled under a blanket on the couch. Kihyun rests his cheek on Hyungwon’s chest, listening to his steady heartbeat. He laces their fingers together, feeling Hyungwon’s warmth. He pushes himself up on the cushions to press a kiss to Hyungwon’s cheek, scrunching his nose when the stubble scratches at his lips.

The longer the day goes on, the more Kihyun feels that the curse might actually be gone. The heavy cloud of dread that’s hung over his head for nearly a week is slowly evaporating.

It irritates Kihyun that even after reliving the same Friday seven times, he still hasn’t managed to see Hyunwoo’s musical even once. It seems that whatever tragedy befalls them, it always happens before the show, and tonight, Kihyun refuses to miss it again.

“If we’re going to Hyunwoo’s show tonight, you might want to shave,” he teases, and Hyungwon retaliates by scraping the scruff against Kihyun’s shoulder. Kihyun yelps and jumps up from the couch, causing Hyungwon to cackle. “Oh, you’ll pay for that,” he warns and leaps back onto the couch, crouching over Hyungwon’s hips as he pokes and tickles Hyungwon’s sides until he’s panting and begging for mercy.

“Surrender, I surrender! I give up, Kihyun. I’ll shave before we go.”

“Good,” Kihyun says, and he moves to stand up from the couch until Hyungwon tugs on his wrist and pulls Kihyun back into his chest.

“Hey, where you going? We don’t have to get ready for another hour.”

“Oh, an hour? And you have some idea of how we can spend that hour, do you?”

Hyungwon nods and lifts his head to capture Kihyun’s lips with his own.

“Mmm, okay, love,” Kihyun agrees, speaking against Hyungwon’s mouth. “I think that’s a good use of our time.”

 

“So it was really good? You swear?” Hyunwoo asks for the millionth time as they weave through backstage, avoiding set pieces and props and other actors. “I think my wig looks ridiculous.”

“Really, Hyunwoo, you were amazing. The whole show was amazing, and the wig really ties your costume together,” Hyungwon assures him as Kihyun steers him around one of the tech crew who is raising a backdrop. Hyunwoo ducks under the backdrop just as the crew member loses his grip on the rope holding it up. It falls to the ground in front of Hyungwon, and Kihyun nearly has a heart attack at the close call. The heavy metal pipe that weighs the fabric down could crush a person from that height.

The stage is a minefield. There are people everywhere, rushing around, trying to get everything reset for the Saturday matinee before they go home for the night. Kihyun recognises a few of them from other shows Hyunwoo has done, and their friend Changkyun even waves at Kihyun with his clipboard as he gives instructions to the people in charge of props.

The house lights are up, but much of the light is blocked by a giant set piece that has been moved to the apron to make way for the baby grand being rolled across the stage. Kihyun grabs Hyungwon's elbow to keep him from falling into the open trap door, and again a few seconds later when he nearly steps right off the stage.

After a week of tragedies, Kihyun is still a bit gun shy when it comes to Hyungwon and possible accidents. He’d really like to take Hyungwon home and wrap him in bubble wrap for the next couple of weeks, but that would be incredibly unfair to Hyungwon, not to mention unnecessary if Baekhyun is right about the curse being contained.

Hyunwoo stops short to let a pair of performers pass, causing Hyungwon to walk right into his back. “Sorry,” Hyungwon mumbles, but Hyunwoo doesn’t even seem to notice, too busy checking out one of the performers who has stripped out of the top half of his costume, leaving his muscular upper body on full display.

Kihyun snickers. “Thought you’d be used to that by now. Don’t you see the other actors like that all the time?”

“Yeah,” Hyunwoo sighs, “all the time.” Kihyun has to tug on Hyunwoo’s collar to get his full attention again, and then they’re being led back the other direction, toward backstage and the dressing rooms.

“So, who is he?” Kihyun asks.

“Who’s who?” Hyunwoo plays dumb, but Kihyun isn’t falling for it.

“The muscle bunny back there, who is he?”

“Nobody,” Hyunwoo replies with a flapping motion of his hand, as if he’s trying to swat away an annoying bug buzzing around his head.

“His name is Hoseok,” Hyungwon answers for him. “He’s one of the dancers. What?” he shrugs when Kihyun gives him a look. “I used to dance with him in college. We didn’t know each other well, but I recognised him on stage tonight.”

“So, Hyunwoo,” Kihyun continues, “when are you gonna ask him out?”

“Why would I ask him out?”

“Oh, come on, Hyunwoo. I saw the way you looked at him. I know you’re interested, and I’m betting he does, too. Just…”

“Grow a pair,” Hyungwon finishes for Kihyun.

“Says the guy who pined after Kihyun for almost two years before he finally asked  _ you _ out.”

It’s true. When they’d first met, Hyungwon had been hesitant to approach Kihyun, but his feelings had been so obvious. Kihyun had grown tired of waiting around for him, or maybe he just felt like putting Hyungwon out of his misery. Either way, it had been Kihyun who’d ended up making the first move. He regrets nothing.

“So don’t be like me. Be like Kihyun instead. Go after what you want before someone else snatches him up.”

Hyunwoo blushes as he stops in front of the dressing room. He looks at his shoes, scuffing them against the floor. “Maybe,” he mumbles. “I gotta change.”

“Alright,” Kihyun says. “We’ll let you be. Meet you out front in fifteen?”

Hyunwoo nods and slips through the door, only opening it far enough to fit through to provide his castmates a bit of privacy, and leaves Kihyun and Hyungwon to find their way back to the front of the auditorium on their own.

“Hoseok would be really good for him,” Hyungwon tells Kihyun. “He’s a sweet guy, adorably shy, loyal and friendly… Hyunwoo needs someone like that in his life. Maybe we could set them up.”

“Chae Hyungwon, are you suggesting we play matchmaker?”

“Again,” he corrects. “After all, we did introduce Changkyun and Minhyuk.”

“And that went over  _ so _ well,” Kihyun laughs, nudging Hyungwon with his elbow to guide him around some props lying on the floor. “Maybe we should just let Hyunwoo handle this himself.” It would definitely be best if they didn't intervene. Kihyun remembers how well Changkyun and Minhyuk's one and only date had gone and how long it had taken Changkyun to trust them again after.

“Yeah, okay,” Hyungwon agrees, and he stops and bends down to plant a quick kiss on Kihyun’s cheek.

Kihyun is too busy enjoying the contact to notice the commotion on stage until he hears a scream.

“Get out of the way!” someone yells, and not sure who the person is speaking to or where the actual danger is, Kihyun instinctively pulls Hyungwon closer to his side and stumbles a few steps to the left so that they’re pressed against a wall.

Something crashes just inches from them, and when he looks to see what’s happened, an entire row of lights lies smashed on the floor of the stage. Kihyun’s heart rate spikes; this is at least the fourth close call of the evening. He has a moment to breathe, to think and wonder if it’s the last tendrils of the curse refusing to relinquish their hold, before someone else shouts at them, and this time it’s just a bit too late.

Hyungwon shoves Kihyun away just as the baby grand that the crew had been rolling across the stage earlier comes barrelling down a ramp and into Hyungwon, pinning him against the wall. It doesn’t just bump into him, either. It slams into his stomach, crushing his hips and nearly severing his body in half. Pieces of wood splinter off, piercing Hyungwon’s skin.

“Ki,” Hyungwon wheezes, struggling to breathe. “Ki, I can’t…”

Move. Hyungwon can’t  _ move. _ He can’t even push himself upright from where he’s slumped over the piano, the weight of it the only thing holding Hyungwon together.

Grabbing Hyungwon's hand, Kihyun still expects some kind of response, a squeeze or something, but there's nothing. Kihyun hiccups a sob, shaking his head.

“No. No, this is supposed to be over.” He's still unable to help Hyungwon in any way other than to be there with him.

“It's… okay, Ki. I can't… It doesn't hurt.”

“But you're dying,” Kihyun says, his voice thick and wobbly with emotion and tears that he tries unsuccessfully to hold back. “Why are you leaving me again?”

Hyungwon gives him a weak smile. “Fate,” he croaks and then winces as his body is wracked with a hacking cough. Unable to cover his mouth, blood sprays onto the lid of the piano in front of him.

The coughing dies down, and Hyungwon takes a few shallow, raspy breaths. “Ki, I-”

“Shhh, I know. I know, love.” Kihyun's tears fall freely now, flowing down his cheeks and mixing with Hyungwon's blood on the piano as they drip from how chin. “I love you, too.” Hyungwon's wheezing stops, his eyes close. “I'll see you in the morning,” Kihyun whispers.

He hopes he's right.

 

Hyungwon wakes Kihyun with a loud gasp, like he’d forgotten to breathe in his sleep, and immediately begins choking.

“Love?” Kihyun asks when it takes far longer than he expects for Hyungwon to recover.

“Fuck, what’s going on, Ki?” He coughs again and clears his throat. “I dreamed I died.”

“Died? Died how?”

Hyungwon scrubs his face with his hands, groaning. “Every way you can think of and some you’d never imagine in your most horrible nightmares,” he says.

_ Doubtful, _ Kihyun thinks, and when he tilts his head sideways, he realises something is missing. There’s nothing tickling his shoulder and neck, no tinkling sapphires tugging on his earlobe. The earring is gone, but obviously the curse isn’t quite broken yet. He’ll have to go see Baekhyun again, and this time Hyungwon will have to come with him.

Not wanting Hyungwon to be blindsided by the situation in front of Baekhyun, Kihyun gently touches his shoulder to get his attention. “Love, there’s something you should know.”

Hyungwon, never one for anything that requires much thought or effort first thing in the morning, is surprisingly calm as he listens to Kihyun explain everything he’s experienced over the past eight days. Kihyun cries some, especially when he describes the fire and the mugging, but Hyungwon, to his credit, never once suggests that Kihyun imagined any of it or that everything had been a dream.

“The truth is, everything you’ve told me sounds a lot like my dream last night,” Hyungwon confesses when Kihyun asks what he thinks. “It’s so much like my dream that I just can’t believe you’d be making it up. I know we’re close, but I’m pretty sure you still can’t read my thoughts or dream my dreams.”

“No, I’m not psychic or telepathic or anything like that,” Kihyun laughs. “The thing is, I figured out what’s causing the whole thing. It’s the earring you gave me.” Hyungwon glances at Kihyun’s ear, just noticing the earring’s absence. “I found a sorcerer who says he can break the curse. So far nothing he’s tried has worked, but this is the first time the earring hasn’t somehow returned to me in the night. It’s also the first time you’ve shown any sign of remembering what happened.”

“So what do we do now? Where’s the earring?”

“Baekhyun mentioned a sort of last resort spell he could use, but he said he’d need both of us there. I think he still has the earring. Yesterday he encased it in some sort of magical resin and locked it in a magical safebox- Hey! You don’t get to make fun,” Kihyun scolds Hyungwon when he rolls his eyes at the mention of magical this and magical that.

“I'm sorry, Ki, but you have to understand how absurd this sounds.”

“No, I get that. Really, I do, but Jooheon is the one who sent me to this guy. They're apparently friends. And yeah, Baekhyun is strange, but you trust Jooheon, right? And you trust me?”

Hyungwon sighs and nods, putting an arm around Kihyun and pulling him against his side. “Yeah, I trust you. I believe you. Whatever this spell is, let's just go see Baekhyun and get it over with. I'll call into work, and then we can go.”

 

“Damn,” Baekhyun curses under his breath when Kihyun enters the shop. “I was sure you’d been taken care of when I found your earring in my safebox this morning. The resin is still intact. What are you doing here?”

“I know, Baekhyun. I was surprised to wake up without it, but listen, Hyungwon remembers now. He says he dreamed everything, but still, he remembers, and you remember me today, too. I think the curse is weakened by the resin but not completely contained.”

“Then it sounds like the other spell is indeed necessary,” Baekhyun says. “Hopefully it will destroy the earring completely. Bring your husband here tonight.”

“No, not tonight. Now. Hyungwon is here, but by nightfall, he may be dead again. We need to get it over with as soon as possible.”

Baekhyun huffs. “I need time to prepare some things. Return in an hour, and in the meantime, keep him alive.”

“I’ll do what I can,” Kihyun promises, and he leaves Baekhyun alone to prepare the spell.

 

The shop windows are dark when Kihyun and Hyungwon return, but Kihyun can see light spilling from the cracks around the door to the back room. The lock clicks open before Kihyun can knock, and he and Hyungwon enter, the door slamming shut behind them.

“Come on back,” Baekhyun calls, and Hyungwon squeezes Kihyun’s hand as they step toward the room.

“We’re sure this is necessary?” Hyungwon asks. Kihyun pauses and turns to face him.

“Love, I know you’re worried, but you’ve only had a taste of what I’ve dealt with for the past week. Believe me when I tell you, this is  _ completely _ necessary.”

When they reach the back room, Baekhyun has cleared the floor. Both the workbench and chairs are pushed back against the walls, and there are some…  _  items _ laid out around a chalk circle in the center of the floor.

“I could smell you from outside the door. Love, blech. It’s so much worse with two of you here. Have a seat, please.” Baekhyun motions to the floor, and Kihyun sits without question, tugging on Hyungwon’s hand to encourage him to do the same.

“So, the spell is quite simple. First, I’ll place a charm around the object so that it can’t lash out at us when I remove the resin. It’s probably pretty angry that we’ve already managed to dampen its power; it won’t want to give us an opportunity to completely neutralise it.” Kihyun remembers how the sapphires had attempted to escape the resin the previous day and thinks a protection charm is probably a good idea.

“Then I’ll need a bit of blood from each of you. Don’t worry,” Baekhyun says when Hyungwon opens his mouth to protest. “I only need a drop, and despite my age and preference for the old fashioned, I have procured a lancet to prick your fingers when the time comes. No daggers required.”

Hyungwon’s jaw clicks shut. It’s obvious he’s still concerned about the blood, but Kihyun doesn’t think he’ll hesitate when the time comes.

“You’ll allow the blood to drip directly onto the object. To do this, you’ll have to reach through the protection charm, but even if the object manages to take hold of you, it will slide right off when you retract your hand. After that, it’s mostly watch and wait.”

“And what will happen to the earring if the spell works?” Hyungwon asks. Kihyun glances at him, wondering if he’s hoping to recover the earring afterward. No fucking way would Kihyun ever wear it again, but maybe Hyungwon could get that refund from Jooheon.

“That’s why we’ll have to watch and wait,” Baekhyun admits. “Sometimes the object is destroyed, but other times it’s only the magic in the curse. Are we ready to begin?”

Kihyun looks to Hyungwon, who takes Kihyun’s hand and nods.

“Yes,” Kihyun says. “Let’s get started.”

Baekhyun claps, and the lights in the room go out as candles flicker to life around them. Reaching over to the pile of items he’d gathered, Baekhyun grabs three crystals, each with a flat base. He places them around the circle in the spaces between where they’re seated, politely asking Kihyun and Hyungwon to scoot apart far enough to fit the crystal between them.

He uses a candle to light an incense charcoal tablet, and he sprinkles some herbs over it, a mixture that gives off a sweet smelling smoke that fills the room quickly. Then comes the earring, still encased in resin, placed in the center of the circle.

Baekhyun sits in his spot at the edge of the circle, and for a moment, he looks like he’s meditating, his forearms resting on his knees, his wrists limp and eyes closed. Hyungwon leans closer to Kihyun as if he’s going to say something, but Kihyun tightens his grip on Hyungwon’s hand and silences him with a look.

They wait for Baekhyun to move. Kihyun can hear a clock ticking somewhere in the room, and the smoke from the herbs is starting to irritate his eyes, but he doesn’t interrupt Baekhyun’s concentration.

A visible bubble gradually appears around the earring. “Okay,” Baekhyun says, finally opening his eyes. “That's the protection charm. Do not make contact with it until I give the word.” He hands them each a disposable lancet, the kind a doctor would use to prick a finger for a blood sample. “Wait until I’ve removed the resin,” he tells them. “I’ll let you know when it’s time.”

Baekhyun’s focus returns to the earring, and Kihyun notices his lips moving, nearly imperceptibly, as he recites a spell. The resin begins to melt away. The moment the first sapphire is free, it shoots out in Baekhyun’s direction, tugging the whole earring, resin and all, into the wall of the protection charm. Hyungwon startles and leans away, but Kihyun and Baekhyun don’t even flinch.

More of the resin drips onto the floor below the earring, and more of the sapphires are released, until all of the resin is gone and the earring looks like an octopus floating inside the bubble.

“It will attack the second your hand passes through. Go ahead, but be quick. Remember, it only requires one drop each.”

Kihyun lets Hyungwon go first. He watches the drop of blood bead at the tip of Hyungwon’s finger, swearing to himself that, if this works, he’ll never see Hyungwon’s blood again for the rest of his life. Hyungwon reaches through the protection charm. The earring immediately wraps around his hand, the sapphires climbing his fingers as the post stabs at his palm. The blood drips down one of the chains, and as Hyungwon retracts his hand, the earring is removed by the charm bubble like it’s being squeegeed. 

“Vazey thing,” Baekhyun mutters, earning him a look of confusion from both Hyungwon and Kihyun. “Stupid,” he clarifies, shaking his head. “It’s actually trying to draw blood.”

Kihyun can’t bring himself to use the lancet himself. He passes it to Hyungwon, looking away as he waits for the little poke at the end of his finger, and when his hand passes through the bubble, the earring throws itself at him. It’s hot, nearly glowing, leaving red marks on Kihyun’s skin wherever it touches him. Kihyun jerks his hand back the moment the blood drips onto the earring, blowing on a few burned spots that are starting to blister.

“My turn,” Baekhyun announces, and he pulls a dagger from behind his back.

“Seriously, Baekhyun?”

“What? I said I prefer the old fashioned. This one is an antique. Jooheon gave it to me.”

For a moment, Kihyun thinks he smells a hint of jasmine in the air, but it disappears, quickly drowned out by the sweet scent of the herbs.

Instead of merely pricking his finger, Baekhyun slices right down the center of his palm, squeezing his hand into a fist to keep the blood from dripping on the floor. The earring doesn’t attack Baekhyun’s hand. It’s finally figured out what they’re trying to do, and it skitters across the floor toward Hyungwon, cowering away at the farthest edge of the bubble. Baekhyun has to shrink the bubble down and float it toward himself in order to reach the earring.

Baekhyun’s blood sizzles when it touches the earring, burning through it like acid and creating thick smoke that quickly fills the bubble. It floats there for a moment, looking like a foggy crystal ball, and then Baekhyun says a few words in a language Kihyun doesn’t recognise.

The bubble pops. The smoke is released, but it falls to the ground like rain and disappears before it even has a chance to spread. It leaves behind a lingering scent of burning tar that threatens to choke Kihyun, but Baekhyun fans the herbs to combat the smell. Soon everything in the room is completely normal save for the flickering candlelight and the fact that the three of them are sitting in a circle on the floor.

“There,” Baekhyun sighs. “All done.”

“That’s it?” Hyungwon asks. “It’s over? The curse is gone?”

“Indeed.”

“Is he always like this?”

“Indeed,” Kihyun giggles, only laughing harder when Hyungwon pinches his side. “Seriously though, how can you be sure? That was kind of…”

“Unimpressive,” Hyungwon finishes. “I was expecting more of a fight from it or maybe some spectacular pyrotechnics or something.”

“Well, you weren’t in attendance for the pyrotechnics portion of the show. Now, are you positive I can’t take care of that jasmine before you leave?”

“Jasmine?” Hyungwon whispers, but Kihyun waves him off.

“I’ll pass, thanks. And if this doesn’t work?”

“You know where to find me, but I do not believe you will need me again. Have a nice life, Kihyun.”

“You too, Baekhyun.”

 

The sun is shining directly into the bedroom window when Kihyun wakes, and he knows by its position in the sky that it's late morning and long past time for them to get up for work. Worrying that they've overslept, he snatches his phone off of the nightstand, tapping the home button to wake the screen only to find that it's Saturday.

_ It's Saturday! _

It's Saturday, and they made it through the rest of Friday without incident. He rolls over to tell Hyungwon, to celebrate that the curse has been broken, but the other side of the bed is empty. 

“Love?” he calls. There's a crash in the kitchen before he hears footsteps in the hall, Hyungwon's soft slippers scuffing against the floor.

“Yeah, babe?” Hyungwon's head peeks around the door. His hair is still uncombed, and he's wearing his glasses. He looks like he just rolled out of bed. Kihyun giggles.

“What are you doing?”

“Well,” Hyungwon huffs, “I was going to make you breakfast, but then I remembered-”

“That you don’t know how to cook?”

“Yes,” he frowns. “So I was putting the pan back in the cabinet, but then you yelled and startled me.”

“Awww,” Kihyun coos, motioning for Hyungwon to return to bed. “Sorry, love. It’s sweet that you tried.”

Hyungwon huffs again and falls onto the mattress, wiggling until he’s close enough for Kihyun to hold him. “I did try. Or, well, I was going to try. Since when do you sleep past nine? You might have to teach me to cook if this is going to become a thing. Otherwise I’ll starve to death waiting on you to wake up.”

“Ugh,” Kihyun groans. “No talk of death. I’ve had enough death to last me a lifetime. In fact, you’re not allowed to die at all, ever.”

“Sorry, babe, but it’s over now. I can’t promise I’ll  _ never _ die, but I think we have a long time before we’ll have to worry about my impending demise. You’ll probably be sick of me by then.”

“No,” Kihyun murmurs, his lips brushing against Hyungwon’s neck. “No, I’ll never get sick of you.”

They lie there for a few minutes, wrapped up in each other, neither moving. It’s long enough that Kihyun wonders if Hyungwon has fallen back asleep, until he speaks.

“So are you gonna get up, or are you really gonna let me starve to death?”

Hyungwon yelps and scrambles off the bed as Kihyun swats at him and threatens to do just that.


End file.
